Confluence Investment Management LLC Has $54.83 Million Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Confluence Investment Management LLC lessened its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 287,913 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 4,951 shares during the period. Confluence Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $54,830,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Sunburst Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Sunburst Financial Group LLC now owns 2,959 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $495,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Johnson Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Johnson Financial Group LLC now owns 2,360 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $395,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Phillips Financial Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.6% during the third quarter. Phillips Financial Management LLC now owns 3,852 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $644,000 after buying an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Goodman Advisory Group LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Goodman Advisory Group LLC now owns 2,674 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $447,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hutchinson Capital Management CA lifted its position in Alphabet by 1.9% in the second quarter. Hutchinson Capital Management CA now owns 3,492 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $641,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.95, for a total transaction of $247,425.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 26,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,342,143.80. This trade represents a 5.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.30, for a total transaction of $3,741,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,106,806 shares in the company, valued at approximately $350,361,837.80. The trade was a 1.06 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 137,588 shares of company stock valued at $24,473,081. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOG has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seaport Res Ptn raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Scotiabank initiated coverage on Alphabet in a report on Friday, October 11th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $212.00 price objective for the company. Phillip Securities upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.56.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.5 %

NASDAQ:GOOG traded up $1.00 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $191.44. 5,097,255 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 19,706,879. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $180.72 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $173.79. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $131.55 and a 1 year high of $202.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.34 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.02.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.39 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.55 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

About Alphabet

Alphabet Inc offers various products and platforms in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia-Pacific, Canada, and Latin America. It operates through Google Services, Google Cloud, and Other Bets segments. The Google Services segment provides products and services, including ads, Android, Chrome, devices, Gmail, Google Drive, Google Maps, Google Photos, Google Play, Search, and YouTube.